The rise of the ‘Social Infomediary’; Pinterest Driving More E-commerce Traffic than Google Plus [Infographic]

Social pin-boarding phenomenon ‘Pinterest‘ is driving more traffic to US e-commerce sites than Google+ according to Experian Hitwise data in a new infographic from Monetate. And e-commerce traffic from the pin-boarding app for collecting and sharing images around themes and personal interests [pinterests] is growing fast; up 389% to apparel retailers July-December 2011. Overall popularity of the Pinterest app that is currently in ‘open beta’, which received a $27 million funding injection from Andreessen Horowitz in October 2011, valuing the company at $200 million, grew 429% to 7.1m in the last quarter of 2011 – with users accessing the app 11m times per week [wiki].

As an online retailer, social commerce offers you three options – adding e-commerce apps to social media, adding social apps to e-commerce, or driving e-commerce traffic through ‘social infomediaries’ like Pinterest that add a social layer to the e-commerce experience indirectly via a third-party site, without all the hassle of app integration.

Are social infomediaries like Pinterest the future of smart and simple social commerce?

Chartered psychologist specialising in consumer behaviour, wellbeing and technology. Certified CX professional experienced in Design Thinking. A researcher, writer and speaker, Paul is head of Digital Insight at SYZYGY.